Trials and Tribulations I've Been Through
by Samantha Wealsey
Summary: A mysterious woman from the Underworld begins to pick off Sailor Senshi until only Sailor Moon remains to take her test... Reloaded and slightly revised.
1. Just a Note!

Just a note:  
  
Hewwo! Sam, checking in, obviously.  
  
I'm re-submitting Trials and Tribulations because the way Fanfiction.net loaded it sucked. Could be my fault but who cares. However, it'll be in week-or-two increments that way other people notice it rather than if I just threw the entire thing in there at one time. At the same thought, if you've already read Trials I've finally gotten off my lazy ::ahem:: to write the second story: Who Knows Where the Time Goes?. So it's out there to be read and reviewed but you need to read Trials first. My opinion is I could have done better but I'm too lazy to fix it so just bear with me here. The second story gets better. 


	2. Dreams

~~Just popped in to say that Sailor Moon does not belong to me. Just the standard disclaimer...  
  
  
TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS I'VE BEEN THROUGH  
Loki Weasley  
Prologue: Dreams  
Rated: PG-13  
  
Freedom once again... I can feel my body awaken... Why... What is my purpose?  
  
I am the nameless child... Naneshi...  
  
Princess Serenity... Sailor Moon... Can you sense me? I am very close. Just watching you sleep there in your safe home and warm bed... Are you ready for what is to come? Are any of your Senshi ready for the Future set for you by the Fates? I, the Judge, will decide, you see...I will be the one to allow you to keep those powers or force to give them up and forget all about what you have accomplished...  
  
The lone figure in the vast land of white stroked the blade of the scythe she gazed into to watch the nine Senshi sleep peacefully in their homes. She stood out here, in the pure white. She was garbed in a short black skirt and black corset and shirt that hung off her shoulders with long, flared sleeves with mismatched-length gloves and boots. Her arms were wrapped individually in chains, as well as her legs. Her longer- than-floor-length hair fell midnight behind her, also wrapped with a chain of repentance. Her one visible red eye shifted to notice another person in her world of white. Her prison of white. "What is it?" she asked.  
  
"What will you do? Will you Test them?" he asked simply, calmly.  
  
"Yes..."  
  
"Then test me as well."  
  
"No."  
  
"Why?" He looked angry with her now. Nothing to bother with.  
  
"Because you are dead." She paused, gazing back at her scythe to plan a second more then turned to fully face the man. "You have full memory of who I am and what I am and what I plan to do. The Test will be false."  
  
"I will not feel worthy otherwise." He held out his hand to her. "Please, Lady."  
  
She did not waver at his sincerity. "Your sister will fight for you... in time... but not yet. Not now... It is too early for them to know about you or myself. They shall not cross paths until the Fates decide."  
  
"Do you always do what you're told?" he asked with a wry smirk.  
  
She did not answer, but turned back to her scythe where nine sleeping figures could be seen from within.  
  
"What about Endiymon?" he asked after a long silence.  
  
"He will be tested."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"He will be tested." And she said no more.  
  
"You have a plan, don't you?" The man walked up to the woman and gazed into her eye and her mask that covered the right side of her face. "A plan, yes. I can see. What will you do to them?"  
  
"They will die if they cannot defeat me, you know." She turned to her scythe, ignoring his question. "All of them and the world. Fate would have taken the lesser path because they are not strong enough to defeat even me..."  
  
"Hm." He replied, putting his hands behind his head and gazing at the scythe as well. "When will you bring me back to live, exactly?"  
  
"Not now. Not yet." Her emotionless voice never raised, never lowered in any kind of signal he was trying her patience. Though he could always sense when he pushed limits.  
  
What do you see in those dreams, Princess? Are you scared of me? You always were... Tell me, do you see your Death or your Downfall in those Dreams of Life? Do you see..? Ah, you see my Realm; I know... It would be foolish, however, for anyone to ask how.  
  
Her steady eyes remained fixed on the scythe and the occupiers of her vision. One particular figure within the gleaming blades shot up in her bed, gasping for air and covered in cold sweat. She moved slightly to wave her scythe before her and gazed at it again. Now only that girl is seen, gasping for air and holding her head. "What on Earth?" that girl wondered, her voice not her own but a Spirit from the Scythe talking to the woman watching her. The girl glanced at her nightstand. It was two in the morning... "Something's wrong..."  
  
"It has begun... come to me, Sailor Senshi... Prove your worth if you can... Sailor Mercury..." And the woman was gone from the world of white.  
  
Did ya like? Questions, comments, and flames are all welcome. 


	3. Mercury Joins Death

TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS I'VE BEEN THROUGH  
Neko Majikku  
Chapter One: Mercury Joins Death  
Rated: PG-13   
  
"This should fairly interesting, you know," the man stood beside The Woman and watched the scythe blade. "Who's first?"  
  
"Sailor Mercury..." was The Woman's reply.  
  
The Man smirked. "The genius of the Senshi? This should be good. Can I tag along?"  
  
"If you must." The Woman gazed at her scythe. She watched Mercury, considering her options against the intelligent Senshi child.  
  
  
Ami strode down towards her home as night fell over Tokyo. She had her nose in a book and her mind twelve miles away at Rei's. Rei had called them over to inform them she was having a bad feeling about the aura of Japan. Something was going to happen. No one could figure out what, though. And thus they decided to keep their eyes open and be on guard.   
  
Rei had said that she woke up that morning from a horrible nightmare. She said that the world turned dark and a demon stood in the center of the destruction caused by it. A dark-cloaked woman with black wings and a large scythe bigger than her by a long shot. Cold wind surrounded this woman; her being was nothing but cold itself. Rei said this woman was oddly familiar and yet completely unknown to her. Only her presence was recognizable. Before Rei woke up in a cold sweat and quick heart, the thing had said something Rei couldn't hear or understand. But it wasn't a good thing to say.  
  
That was why Rei called the Sailor Senshi to an emergency meeting around the Great Fire. Rei spent two hours trying to read before Senshi had to leave and then the rest of the day with in and out visitors. And yet she found nothing. Only one thing happened that day, and Ami was there to see it. The Fire died. It had been out since then. Rei told Ami that the Fire never went out nor was supposed to. But it did somehow and no one could figure out why. Just that the Fire had turned black a split second then died in a flash. Ojisan Hino was perplexed and scared. He was probably still chanting prayers of confession for anything he had ever done where the Fire once was. Rei said whoever was in the dream didn't want them to know anything because she could feel a vision coming just before the Fire disappeared.  
  
Ami sighed heavily, dropping into her bed. When will it end, she thought.  
  
  
I am swimming, how I love it. I'm home... On my planet... Watching the stars above as I move gracefully about the pool... A boy, familiar and comforting, is watching me with pleasure in his kind eyes... I climb out as I sense a bad feeling wash over me. Two guards come into the pool area. They look upset somehow. I pull my robes over my bathing suit and gaze at them with worry. "What is it?" the man, the boy with kind eyes, asks.  
  
"Your Highness...The Dark Kingdom is here." Replies one of the Guards with a choked sob. "There is no hope for Mercury."  
  
A cold sensation came over me, not from the news but something else. A woman stands just behind the Guards, watching the man and myself. She is cold and dark but still oddly familiar. "What is it?" I ask her, taking a step forward towards her. She remains still. Gazing right into my eyes with her pained red eye.  
  
The ground shifted and I fell forward. A piece of the Palace tumbled on the Guards and the Woman, but she had passed through it and still stood watching me. Finally, she spoke... "Only a few Terrans..." Her gaze turns to the man and she disappears in a flutter of her tattered black wings that were still so elegant no matter what. The cold breeze that somehow follows her like Death passed and she was gone. The man with the kind eyes helped me to my feet and held me. It felt wonderful.  
  
"We will see her again, beloved," he said and another part of the Palace collapsed, falling straight for us as we await our deaths. She was right, we are not Terrans and we did not survive...  
  
Ami sat up in her bed and gasped for air to fill her tight lungs. What had all that meant? Something... Ami picked up a sheet of paper and wrote down what she could remember from that dream: "the man with the kind eyes" and got out of bed. Two. It was two in the morning and she was leaving her home, alone, to discover the calling. Should she contact the Senshi? No... No... Only she should be the one to go.  
  
"Mercury Crystal Power!! MAKE UP!!" Ami cried once she was from earshot of anyone awake at the penthouse she and her mother dwelled in. Mercury ran south, the direction the sense came from, and soon came upon the abandoned construction site.  
  
"He-hello?" Mercury slowly turned, scanning over the skeleton of a museum with her computer and shaking like a leaf. "He- hello?" Something blipped across her screen and was gone again before it could get a hold on whatever that was.  
  
"Sailor Mercury..." There were five voices, slightly off in time with a woman's in front, leading it all. Mercury faced the origin but picked up nothing on her scanners as something came into view. A large, deadly, double-bladed scythe...  
  
"Who-who are you?" Mercury mustered her courage and glared at the cloaked figure with the deadly weapon.  
  
The figure pulled off the hood and revealed the same red, pained, eye and scarred mask. Her black hair tumbled to land on the dirt and still stretch a foot or two. "Do you know who I am?" she asked calmly, emotionlessly.  
  
"N-no... You look familiar... But I can't remember your name..." Mercury took an attentive step back and shut her computer. It wasn't going to help if it couldn't pick up The Woman. "Who are you?"  
  
"I am the Judge, Mizuno Ami..."  
  
"Judge of what?" Mercury asked, amazed that this woman knew her other identity but wouldn't let on.   
  
"Judge..." was all she said.  
  
"She's the Judge of you." Said another voice. A man lay out on one of the metal frames, watching Mercury with wise, interested eyes. "Princess." He added with a bow of his head, causing hair to fall over his careful eyes.  
  
"Of me?" Mercury asked. She glanced back at where The Woman was, but saw nothing.  
  
"I'd be careful, if I were you..." sang the man.  
  
Mercury couldn't react before she slammed into a cold wall and arms held her wrists, waist, and ankles to it. She stared in amazement at the dark room.  
  
Again The Woman appeared, The Man beside her. "I tried to warn you." The Man said with a sigh.  
  
"What now?" Mercury asked.  
  
"You should not have let yourself be distracted, Sailor Mercury, and been more attentive to your enemy. You lose." The Woman pointed her scythe at Mercury and her henshin pen embedded itself into it. The blue of Mercury's symbol was the only color to the woman's weapon.  
  
"Is there hope?" Ami muttered, as she felt suddenly exhausted.   
  
"There is... Perhaps the others will do better."   
  
Mercury felt cold as she turned to a familiar sleep. A conscious kind of sleep that only a few people have ever had to experience in their lifetime. Like that of the Heart Crystal... An alive Death... 


	4. Venus Falls to the Woman

TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS I'VE BEEN THROUGH  
Neko Majikku  
Chapter Two: Sailor Venus Falls To The Woman....  
Rated: PG-13  
  
  
Rei stood and stared at the fireplace that no longer held the burning fires and pondered what had happened- what had interfered and put out the Spirit Fires that were supposed to never die. Now with Mercury missing, she felt completely useless without the Fires and lost to add onto it. The dream came once and never again, it started the night before Mercury disappeared and ended the night she left and the Fires died. Something was blocking her psychic powers and she wanted desperately to know what and how.   
  
Usagi was in terrible shape. She was holed up in her room and withdrawn from all. Luna had said that Usagi was upset that Mercury could be taken away with little word and could only leave behind the message: "the man with kind eyes", which no one understood since Ami took trifle interest in males and kept her nose in books at all times.  
  
Rei sighed and turned toward the setting sun. It looked raging and angry.  
  
Minako sat upright in her bed, gasping for air to fill her terrified lungs.   
  
I run through the gardens... What gardens? Oh, Venus; I can tell by the Love Rose, it will only grow here...  
  
She reran the dream through her mind as she gazed at the nearby clock. Two.  
  
I come to face the back of a woman... I know her somehow..."Who are you? What do you want with the Princess?" I demand forcefully. This woman doesn't reply but she turns as I ask. She is as pale as a ghost and covered in red scars up and down her arms and legs with one on a mask she had never taken off. She wears nothing but black and her hair is black and her only visible eye is blood red... I gasp. For some reason she always frightens me just by looking at me... That emotionless stare... The emotionless form tortured and unwanted by all... Feared by everyone... The Woman fixes her blank stare on me... The ground moves out from beneath me and I am caught by strong, strangely familiar arms that hold me tight... We turn, the man and myself, and see the Venus Palace in complete and utter ruin. I turn back to The Woman, enraged. "Why won't you stop this?" I cry, of course she could... She could stop this before more people die...The Woman moves her gaze to the falling Palace, her mouth moves and quiet words escape her lips. I could hear them. "It starts." She said and disappeared in a flutter of those hideous black excuses for angelic wings she has on her back. I turn back to the Palace in hopes to possibly save my Family... But as I do a spiny arm comes from nowhere and-  
  
- she couldn't remember any more. Now she was being called. To somewhere she didn't know just yet. Some place empty, silent like Death. This was a job for Sailor Venus and, she knew, Sailor Venus alone. Without transforming or waking up Artemis, Minako slipped into the darkness of the morning and into the streets of Tokyo. She ran south; the sense was coming from there, wasn't it? Yes... this was the right way and the only right way... Minako ran. She ran and ran and soon came into the currently abandoned construction site. Abandoned until there was more funding to finish the museum... "Well, you called me and I came!" Minako yelled. "So come out and state your business!!"  
  
"Sailor Venus... Hm..." the voice was a woman's... but about four other voices were there as well... Five voices saying the same thing at almost the same times...  
  
"Come out, I'm warning you!" Minako almost choked on fear when something moved behind her. She whirled around and stared into bleak nothing. "I-I-I mean it!!"  
  
From the nothing stepped a cloaked figure carrying a staff... No, a scythe... It stepped silently, as if it never touched ground. "Sailor Venus. Do you know who I am?" It was the many voices with the woman's!   
  
Minako tightened her grip on her henshin pen. "N-No, who are you?"  
  
"I am the Judge, Aino Minako..." A hand removed the hood and revealed the same face from Minako's dream. Same young, white face and scarred mask. Same red eyes that showed absolutely no emotion at all.   
  
"VENUS CRYSTAL POWER-AHHH!" Minako felt her back hit something cold and arms pin her wrists, waist, and ankles to it. She dropped her pen and looked around. She was not Sailor Venus; she was still Aino Minako. And The Woman was standing a foot away, watching her with the same eye, but looking her over.  
  
"You should have considered your transformation time, Sailor Venus, and my reaction time. I am not as slow-witted as your other enemies. You lose." The Woman picked up Minako's pen and gazed at it a moment before holding it to her scythe. Minako's eyelids grew heavy. Her head drooped. The pen embedded itself into The Woman's Scythe. "Perhaps your allies are stronger than you, Sailor Venus."  
  
Minako could see Ami parallel to the ground, but if she were tied to the ceiling it was exceptionally low. Or, perhaps, there were no walls to speak of here.  
  
Minako drifted into a conscious sleep. She could see the woman walk away from the dark room Minako was held in and disappear through a wall. It felt much like where her Pure Heart Crystal was stolen... an alive kind of dead. But... But what did that woman mean by her losing? Would she ever know?  
  
Artemis stretched and glanced over at Minako's bed. It was vacant. He sighed. She must have left in the middle of the night. Things were going swiftly from bad to worse now. First the Great Fire dies, then Mercury disappears and next Venus. He stood and headed toward Rei's. She needed to know and so did the rest of the Senshi. Their numbers were declining swiftly at one a night, and mysteriously, to boot. On his way out of the small apartment, Artemis spotted a small sheet of paper. It read "Such a strong man". Perplexing and yet part of an obvious puzzle, he found. Artemis could almost bring forth a memory to the line, but not quite or much at all.  
  
Note to all: Comments and such are still welcome. And as a word from the wise (sorta kinda more insane...): UBEE-CUBBE HURT HERSELF!! (that was dedicated to Niji Hino, partner in crime and sister 4 eternity!!) ^_^U... ^_^ In a way, we're all insane so why fight it? This is Neko- Meow, baby!! 


	5. Mars' Fire Dims

TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS I'VE BEEN THROUGH  
by Neko Majikku  
Chapter Three: Mars' Fire Dims  
Rated: PG-13  
  
  
"That wasn't as interesting as I thought..." The Man put his hands behind his head and watched The Woman. "Who's next?"  
  
"Sailor Mars." Replied the Woman, as she watched the fire reading in process in the shimmer of the scythe's blades.  
  
"Ooh, any chance this'll be interesting?"  
  
"She has discovered that "the man with the kind eyes" is a close tie to Sailor Mercury and that "such a strong man" is connected to Venus... That is it."  
  
"Hm... So. Will it be any interesting?" he asked again, kicking at the non-existent ground. Nothing but nothing existed here.  
  
"If you wish to come, then follow me when I go."  
  
"You still haven't answered my question."  
  
Silence.  
  
  
"The man with the kind eyes..." Luna lay down on her paws and sighed heavily. "I have no clue what that could possibly mean."  
  
"I have no remembrance of Ami-chan liking anyone except Riyo," Makato muttered. "And our definition of kind eyes kinda differs, ne?"  
  
"This isn't right! How are we being defeated so easily?!" demanded Usagi, pounding her fist onto the table and earning herself a sore hand.   
  
"Usagi-chan! Calm down, we'll solve this," Rei scowled at the girl. "But in order to do that- we kinda need to stay calm."  
  
"Now, we still have Ami-chan's and Minako-chan's notes as clues," Michiru stated. "The next one to leave in the middle of the night, contact us... Leave a note- something that will lead us to what is going on."  
  
"Agreed."  
  
  
Archery... I always did enjoy it... And with such a handsome partner, how could I go wrong? Here on Mars, I was safe from evil... Just him and I playing archery under the warm sun while peace lived on. The handsome partner put his arm around me; strengthening my posture and helping me draw back the strings and aim. His face was so close to mine... I could make out all the little stars in his blue eyes...I hardly noticed I had stopped paying attention to the target and gave him my undivided gaze.  
  
"... Are you paying attention, Firefly?" he asked suddenly. I started and blushed. I couldn't believe I had been caught. The handsome partner smirked slyly at me. "You should pay more attention to the target."  
  
"I am... I've made you my target." I playfully giggle and set aside my bow and arrow, laying the quiver onto the grass.   
  
"Okay, we'll take a break. You're distracted, aren't you?" he asked, now more worried than before.  
  
I gaze at the other planets as a strange sense washes over me. "Yeah..."  
A bleak breeze covers us and I shiver in such a thin dress. Before the target stood a woman in black with white, scarred skin. She looked awful, like always. Couldn't she ever find something to darken her skin and be more careful about being cut? "What do you want?" my handsome partner asked, putting a protective arm around me.  
  
The ground shook suddenly, almost knocking me off my feet. I turn and gasp at the sight of hundreds of youma swarming around my home. I could just barely hear the woman say a few simple words. She had such a small vocabulary sometimes. "Resistance is futile..." and the cold wind signaled her departure. I had more important things to worry about. I watched, frozen in shock, as a Shadow Youma came for my partner and I.  
  
Rei sat up in her bed. She gazed around, drenched in cold sweat. "I can hear you calling..." she stood and wrote down the simple words: "I always loved archery" and left to find whomever this person was. She eventually found herself in the abandoned construction site; footprints, similar to that of Minako and Mercury's shoes were traipsed about the site. Rei transformed and a cold wind surrounded her. "You're here and so am I."  
  
"Do you know who I am?" asked a many voiced figure in the shadows.  
  
"No." Mars replied.  
  
"No.... I am the Judge... Fight me for Life... Blah, blah, blah... Get on with it, already. Formalities over. Sailor Mars, meet The Judge. Judge, meet Sailor Mars." A man lay out on the framework, holding his chin his palm and looking bored.  
  
"You want me to fight?" Mars asked the woman, never taking her eyes off of her.  
  
"I do." She replied, pulling off her hood to reveal the masked, white face.   
  
Mars took a step back and concentrated on her fire powers. "Okay, then... But tell me what you did with Venus and Mercury!"  
  
"They lost..." was her reply.  
  
"Mars! Flame... Sniper!" Mars fired a burning arrow at The Woman.  
  
She simply jumped over the attack, holding out her scythe and falling toward Mars. "Kontan... Banshee!" she cried, and a horrible scream pierced the night sky.  
  
Mars clutched at her ears as searing pain flowed through them over and over again. She shut her eyes and wished for the infernal sound to go away. Something hit Mars in the chest and slammed her into a wall. Arms held her to it. Mars carefully opened her eyes to see The Woman standing there, watching her from a few feet away. "What.... What now?"  
  
"You lost, Hino Rei." The Woman held her scythe towards Mars and absorbed her powers into the great weapon. Mars watched Venus and Mercury.... Mercury was against the wall and Venus... the ceiling? Or was she on the ceiling and Minako the floor? "There are no walls, no floors, no ceilings.... There is nothing but darkness here, Princess..."  
  
Rei slipped into conscious sleep, watching the Woman disappear in a flurry of black feathers and wings. 


	6. Jupiter's Poweless

TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS I'VE BEEN THROUGH  
By: Neko Majikku  
Chapter Four: Jupiter's Powerless  
Rated: PG-13  
  
"You know?" The Man asked, watching The Woman yet again gaze into her scythe blade at the Sailor Senshi. "These are boring, come to think of it." He put his hands behind his head and gave the woman a bored look to emphasize his point. "And so are you. Who's next?"  
  
"Sailor Jupiter," was the monotone reply from The Woman in the black outfit amidst the eternal white.  
  
"You're going in the order of Planets, aren't you?"  
  
No reply. But The Woman did allow herself to roll her eyes just slightly at his expense.  
  
The Man caught this movement, and frowned. "Oh shut up. You don't tell me anything; so how could I know?"  
  
"I tell you what you ask," came her reply. The woman lowered her scythe and turned to him, giving him her ever-emotionless stare.   
  
"No, you don't. I've asked you if these Trials would be interesting and you never answer."  
  
"You find out when you come to the Mortal Realm with me... Therefore, you have been answered." That was the longest statement he had ever heard her say; it also was the most sarcastic (emotionlessly toned, but obviously sarcastic) reply she had ever given.   
  
He gaped at her in shock at her sudden talkativeness. "Uhm... well..." He had to admit, she was right about that.   
  
"I don't always answer in spoken words or immediately, Lord." And she was gone in a flurry of black feathers. The Man, however, was too shocked to say or do anything.  
  
  
  
"So. Hino-san left in the middle of last night and didn't bother to leave anything but the note: 'I always loved archery'..." Haruka sighed. "Such incompetence."  
  
"I've noticed the order has been Mercury, Venus, Mars, which is in the order- with the exception of Usagi-chan- of the planets..." Makato said thoughtfully. "Do you suppose...?"  
  
"Seems like you're next, Mako-chan." Usagi groaned.  
  
"I'd have to agree." Michiru spoke up.   
  
"So make sure to leave a good clue if you won't contact us." Haruka fumed.  
  
"Have you noticed that none of the girls have left anything but a note?" Luna asked Artemis. The white cat nodded. "Perhaps, whoever is doing this... doesn't want everyone at once..."  
  
"But one at a time..." Artemis murmured. He bowed his head in thought a moment. Then he looked up at Luna.  
  
"Maybe someone should stay with Makato-san tonight, and follow her if she gets up?" Setsuna suggested.   
  
"Who? It's too dangerous for the Princess." Makato gave her friend an apologetic look. Usagi only nodded in grim understanding.  
  
"I'll stay with you, Mako-san." Hotaru stood up bravely. "We can have fun tonight, too. You said you would teach me how to bake. Maybe if you're up all night, then you won't leave?"  
  
"Maybe..."  
  
"All agreed?" Haruka asked.  
  
No one could disagree.   
  
"Jeez, I'm beat..." Makato sighed, glancing over at the clock. One-thirty in the morning. She then saw that Hotaru had fallen asleep on the couch. Makato couldn't help but doze off herself.  
  
I stand with my fiancé, my love, my... everything. My protector... We stand in the gardens of my home- Jupiter. He holds my hand as I cry like a little girl. I can't help it. I've lost so many... Venus, Mercury, Mars, The Prince of the Moon. Princess Serenity lost one of the competitors for her heart, a wonderful man from Mars... What will happen now? The Enemy is silent and deadly. No one has seen it yet and lived to tell the tale. My fiancé holds me close to him...but I don't feel any better. By the order the Enemy has been taking, Jupiter is next. I am prepared to fight for my home. Valiantly, like I know my friends have...  
  
A chilling breeze pushes me hard into my fiancé and we struggle to stay standing. I recognize this feeling and I know who is here. My fiancé and I turn to the black-cloaked woman standing two feet above the ground, watching us.  
  
"You've come." My fiancé says gravely. "We are next then?"  
  
She says nothing; she is still, familiar to me. Her one visible, blood red eye looks at me straight, calm, and silent. She looks lonely, but Venus had said not to trust her. But why? Why had she said that? "Demon Woman." I mutter at her emotionless stare. Trying to sound brave but inside I am quaking with fierce terror. "Bringer of Death. It follows you!"  
  
"Only a few Terrans..." and she was gone.   
  
A loud crash told me that the attack had begun. The ground under me caved in and I fell... fell... fell to my doom-  
  
Makato shot up where she was, lying her head on the counter. It was now two in the morning. Hotaru was still sleeping soundly; fantastic. She could leave without endangering her on this. It wasn't her time to follow the call, anyway. Makato stood, still wearing what she had yesterday, and left her apartment after writing simply 'My fiancé' on a sheet of paper.  
  
Makato ran down the wet streets of Tokyo. Her night. Of all nights to rain, it had to rain on her night to be called. She ignored it, feeling the pull get stronger and stronger as she came closer to her goal. She stopped, splashing mud over her bare legs, in the skeleton of a building and waited.  
  
"I know you're here, whoever you are. And that you've called me like you called my friends. So, what kind of challenge is it, if you don't show up?" she asked, taking her pen from her pocket and transforming into Sailor Jupiter. She tried her best to look brave, not scared and angry, but brave and angry.   
  
"You do not recognize me." said many voices at once, slightly off of sync, led by one very familiar but unknown voice. From the pitch-blackness walked a woman in an equally black cloak. The owner of the voice pulled the hood from their face, revealing the same pale, half- masked, red-eyed woman Jupiter had seen in her dreams. The same emotionless stare. Jupiter shook her head timidly. "I am the Judge."  
  
"Of what?" Jupiter asked, finally feeling her courage come as the cold feeling became normal.  
  
"Of you."  
  
"Okay, fine." Jupiter ran at the Woman, splashing mud everywhere but not noticing. She lashed out at the cloaked Woman with her best punch.  
  
The Woman moved out of the way relatively easily and stood to the side. She didn't move at all. Jupiter tried again, only to be cut off by the Woman's fist in her stomach. The force of the attack knocked Jupiter back and into the mud. The Woman stood over her as Jupiter felt something close around her wrists and ankles.  
  
The room was nothing but black. With no real walls, else why would Jupiter be leaning forward, against a wall, looking to be in a forty-five degree angle to Mars?  
  
"I've lost, then?" Jupiter sputtered.  
  
"You have."  
  
"And this is what will happen to those who lose to you?" she asked with unknown and previously unrealized calm and wisdom.  
  
"It is."  
  
"What will happen if we all lose?"  
  
"You are all doomed." And she was gone.  
  
  
Hotaru woke up with a stiff neck and gazed at the dirty counters. That made her nervous. Makato would NEVER leave anything lying around like this was. After a thorough search of the house, Hotaru came to realize she had failed and that Sailor Jupiter had been taken by whoever the enemy was... Leaving only a note that read "my fiancé". Hotaru cleaned up, knowing Makato would have a fit if it was left to sit, and then ran for her home where three adopted parents would be less than happy to hear the news. Neko: N-kay, from here on in I'm strapped for ideas so input is a very VERY VERY VERY good thing.... Just tell me. Thanks in advance; meow, baby; this is Neko, signing out. 


	7. Saturn's Silence

TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS I'VE BEEN THROUGH  
By: Neko Majikku  
Chapter Five: Saturn's Silence  
Rated: PG-13  
  
  
Luna sat, fixated in watching the screen blip before her. Artemis sat beside her, also fixated. They had a hunch. Central Control processed the question they had asked a moment and then showed the two Moon Cats another image.   
  
A tall, solitary figure stood alone amongst white in this picture. It was cloaked in a tattered, black hooded cloak, face hidden in shadows that only seemed to appear on it. It its hand was a large, menacing scythe, ready to kill. A list, a profile, came up beside the picture.  
  
Name: Unknown  
Age: Unknown  
Origin: Unknown  
Birth date: Unknown  
  
Alternative Identities: Shinigami, Hades, Anubis, Trivia, Hella, Emma-O, etc...  
The list of names included the identity of every God of Death or Ghosts and Spirits ever imagined.  
  
A soft breeze of shivering cold passed through the control room. Artemis and Luna turned around slowly; knowing that their snooping had lured her to them.  
  
"What is it that you believe you shall accomplish?" asked the monotonous voice of the deity-like creature they sought. She was dressed exactly like the picture showed.  
  
"What are you doing to the Senshi??" Artemis demanded.  
  
"What I was told to do," came the answer.  
  
Luna and Artemis were transformed quickly into humans by the power of this person before them. Obviously, the two guardians were needed this way. The two tensed.   
  
"And what was that?" Artemis asked suspiciously.  
  
The figure pulled down the hood that hid their face, revealing the long tendrils of ebony hair and pale skin. The mask over the right side of her face matched the creamy skin perfectly in its white elegance. Her visible red eye flashed a second and the two cats- turned people- were yanked backwards by some unknown force. The room they were once in vanished and became black. Four Senshi were fastened to the would- be walls; should this world actually have them. This was her home. Her own personal dimension. The Woman gazed at the humans a moment and then turned.   
  
"Should your Senshi prove my suspicions wrong, you shall be set free," she said calmly.  
  
"Suspicions?" Luna asked. She gently drifted to sleep. A word was mumbled from her lips but no one was able to comprehend it.  
  
  
"THIS ISN'T RIGHT!!" Usagi was going into hysterics. "I've looked everywhere for Luna and Artemis and they're nowhere to be found!!"  
  
"Perhaps they found out something?" Hotaru suggested, trying not to show her apprehension. She was next.  
  
"But whoever's doing this found them?" agreed Michiru.  
  
Setsuna sighed and gazed out of the window. Even she, the Guardian of Time, had no idea what was causing this havoc. She felt useless.  
  
Haruka stood. "Well, I'm not going to let Hotaru be taken!" she said decisively and laid a hand on said girl's shoulder. Hotaru could only smile weakly back.  
  
  
Chaos and destruction all around me. Such is the planet of Saturn while under attack by youma. And I, the Senshi of Silence, can do little to stop it. These youma possess even more power than I.  
  
Now all I am capable of doing is pray this attack reaches no further than my own planet. This is all her fault.  
  
The cold breeze amongst hot youma breath tells me she has arrived. She, the nameless soul; perhaps deity; whom only days ago came to the Moon and gained the trust of the Queen and the Princess.  
  
"What do you want?" asked my partner, growling in a frustration I know all too well.  
  
She stood silent.  
  
"Answer!!" I order, trying desperately to fight off the oncoming youma. If... If I could just... keep them from the Castle...  
  
The youma press harder and I hear the cry of agony from my partner; my brother. He is dead. I turn to the woman deity to glimpse if she is possibly pleased by his death as she stands by watching. She is emotionless. Damn her. She holds up a hand and a gate opens behind her. I witness as my brother's bodiless soul disappears inside. I call his name. Please come back. Please. Don't leave me!!  
  
He turns to me, nods, and then is gone forever. I scream in rage and my attack wipes out nearly a hundred youma. A hundred from billions. The woman tilts her head; almost looking curious. Mercury told me she has no comprehension of emotions. Perhaps she tells the truth, from what I see now.  
  
"... Like a tsunami..." She spoke softly, almost amused.  
  
"WHAT?" I cry. What was she talking about? Was she mad? All those years locked away? Had they driven her mad? I couldn't get an answer because I was preoccupied with the katana flying for my neck and I with no way to block. Ironic. It is my brother's katana.  
  
  
Hotaru woke up with a start. Of all her vision dreams, this was certainly the most clear of them all and certainly the strangest. And now she was being called. She wrote a quick note, and then Hotaru stood and went out her window. She headed south, transforming on the way. Like the walking dead, she followed this call mindlessly. Sailor Saturn entered the construction site and glanced around. "You called?" she asked calmly.  
  
A man smirked from the rafters. "Sailor Saturn. Supposed strongest of the Senshi and of the Silence at that! You, Lady, have a bit of a challenge this time. O', Judge, how shall you defeat this one??" He folded his arms and watched the blackest part of the already black skies. A figure in black robes, surrounded by a faint white light, stood there now. The hood was down, showing the face Saturn had seen in her dreams.   
  
The Man clapped. "Well, get on with it, O' Wonderful Judge," he commanded, waving towards Saturn.  
  
The Woman looked emotionless. She cast a quick glance to the Man and lifted her free hand only slightly, the other wielding a scythe; the Man's eyes widened. "Oh sure," he muttered and disappeared completely. Saturn could only figure she sent him away.  
  
"You have the Senshi. And Luna? And Artemis?" Saturn asked, knowingly.   
  
"I do," came the reply.  
  
"Alright then." Saturn took a quick step and jumped into the air, aiming her glaive for the Woman's heart. The Woman sidestepped her and blocked with her scythe. Saturn's glaive hissed and steamed. The heat from the weapon was almost unbearable to Saturn. The weapon was as hot as Hell- literally. Instead of risking her weapon, Saturn jumped away. She landed some twenty feet from the Woman and readied her weakened weapon.  
  
The Woman stood emotionless.  
  
"What did the vision mean? You must know. Who was that man? Why do I feel him to be my brother?" Saturn asked. "Is that part of the Past not yet uncovered, O' Judge?"  
  
"It is." The Woman lifted a small hand over her head.  
  
Saturn saw this as a bad time and ran a wide circle around the woman.  
  
"Chainlink..." The Woman now had a gray link in her hand, and looked prepared to throw it. Saturn picked up the pace. "Redemption!" Thousands of links hit the ground centimeters behind Saturn's ankles. She ran faster in response.   
  
Once she was sure the attack had ended, Saturn stopped running and faced the Woman, panting. The Woman only watched her. No physical change. Not even a twitch of the eye at Saturn's eluding of the attack. "You are stronger than the others," the Woman noted calmly. She lifted her scythe and the rings that had once been embedded in the ground came flying back out in one whole chain. It slithered around Saturn, coming up like a snake and catching her. The chain burned her skin. It, too, was exceptionally hot.   
  
"Let her go!!" came a voice. Saturn looked up to see Uranus and Neptune come running for the Woman. They must have followed her. Uranus brought down her saber but the Woman blocked it and blew the Senshi into a nearby support beam. Neptune tried a high kick, but she too was thrown back.   
  
"A foolish loss." Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune all succumbed to the power of the Woman and were brought to the wall-less room to await a possible victor. 


	8. Pluto's Time Runs Out Earth Makes a Choi...

TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS I'VE BEEN THROUGH  
By: Neko Majikku  
Chapter Six: Pluto's Time Runs Out; Earth Makes a Choice  
Rated: PG-13   
Setsuna avoided Usagi the entire day. Numerous calls came from her, communicator attempts, even coming directly over. But Setsuna only ignored it. As the sun fell, Setsuna stood. She knew exactly what was going on now. It had taken a long time to figure it out. This was supposed to happen. This was some kind purposeful task. Why else would they be disappearing? Unless this enemy was intelligent and wanted them to suffer slowly... Slim chance.  
  
Pluto walked outside her home and toward a certain construction site. She didn't need a night to sleep, perhaps dream about her past, in order to know where she was to go. She too had followed Saturn, had seen the attacker. But she held back. The attack used was expressly familiar.... Pluto could only put a name to the person but not quite yet. She entered the spooky location and waited.  
  
Silence. A slight, cool, breeze. Silence.  
  
"Dead.... Scream..." Pluto whispered, calling upon her talisman. The purple light that came with the attack passed silently and quickly through the dusk and into a particular shadow.  
  
The shadow moved, hit, but barely, by the attack. The shadow held a scythe and it fell towards Pluto. She reached up and blocked it, taking from witness account to block and then run before her weapon could sustain harsh damages. The Woman pulled off her hood and watched Pluto carefully. She tilted her head back slightly, a look of emotionless amusement on her features. Recognition. Pluto tensed.  
  
"You wish to test me, then so be it! Let my friends go!" Pluto leapt high, bringing her key down upon the pole of the Woman's scythe weapon. As she expected, both weapons hissed on contact and Pluto could feel the heat of Hell come from them. But Pluto had a plan. She had been thinking it over all day. She kept her eyes on the red eye of the Woman and brought her foot between the woman's legs, tripping her up successfully.  
  
The Woman recoiled by twisting and hand springing back to her feet again. It was a proper distraction. Pluto swung her key for the Woman's face, but only came to miss. The Woman was much too fast. And she had had enough. With a quick movement, the Woman had caught Pluto in the same bindings that held the other Senshi. There was only one left: Sailor Moon.  
  
  
Mamoru had been attending his college courses in America throughout the ordeal, but Usagi had kept him updated through letters. As far as he knew, though, Mars was gone and no one else. But, judging by time, at least Saturn was gone. He walked down the busy streets and watched the sky for any hint of help. For some reason, he felt compelled not to care about the happenings.  
  
"Chiba Mamoru..." at least five voices said. With a light breeze that felt deathly cold, every occupant of the street and surrounding area was gone except for himself. A woman in a black cloak stood two yards from Mamoru, holding a large scythe and watching him with one blood red eye; her other covered by a mask.  
  
"Are you the person who's been attacking Tokyo?" Mamoru asked calmly. "Who's been abducting the Senshi?"  
  
"In a manner of speaking."  
  
"Then I suppose I'm next?"  
  
"Why would she waste her time on you?" asked a third party. A man in a suit much like that of the past's Four Knights of Earth stood on the other side of Mamoru, his arms crossed and an amused look across his face. "Ha!"  
  
"Who're you?" Mamoru asked curiously.  
  
"Me? You don't remember, do you? Oh well. No one did," The Man sniffed mockingly.  
  
"Lord, I advise you to silence yourself," the Woman spoke up quietly. Her original voice calm, the others laughing at the Lord.  
  
The Man frowned. "Fine. Whatever." He became interested in the stores around them.  
  
Mamoru turned back to the Woman. "What is it that you want?"  
  
"I have a choice for you."  
  
"A choice?"  
  
"Gee, is there an echo out here or what?" the Man muttered. Mamoru shot him a look and the Woman ignored him.  
  
"Would you rather live your life without the memories of your past or have them? I offer you this with consequences," The Woman replied.  
  
"Like what?"  
  
"Either way you are to never see the Sailor Senshi again and live." The Woman didn't waver at her threat. She gazed at him with meaning.  
  
"What kind of choice is that?" Mamoru demanded.  
  
"A good one." Came the Man's remark. "C'mon, Endy-chan, it's an A or B situation here." He tapped his foot impatiently.  
  
"If I didn't know better, I'd think you didn't like me," Mamoru muttered to the Man and turned back to the Woman. "Fine. If you are threatening to keep me away from the Senshi, than give me back my memories. There's obviously a reason for it, set in the past."  
  
"LOOK!! A BRILLIANT OBSERVATION! He's a genius, Lady, it might be a waste to kill him after all," the Man laughed manically and the Woman glanced at him, frowning. He caught the look and shrugged. "It's true. This guy's a regular King Poseidon- if you didn't know, kid, he was the smartest man in the Silver Millennium..."  
  
The Woman waved her hand and the Man's mouth shut. Muffled sounds emerged, but he couldn't open it anymore. He glared at her, folded his arms, and waited for her to finish her business.  
  
The Woman turned back to Mamoru and lifted the same hand. Splitting pain passed through the man and he fell to his knees. Muffled laughter came from the Lord. Mamoru shut his eyes to the suddenly blinding light that only made the migraine worse.  
  
Memories flooded Mamoru's mind. He felt dizzy from the sudden flow of thoughts. Most of them were directed toward two places: the Moon, and Mars.  
  
One particular feeling flooded Mamoru as he saw a young man take Princess Serenity's hand in a vision and lead her away from the terrace where he, Prince Endiymon, stood. This man sent Endiymon a dirty look and Endiymon sent it back...  
  
The Woman watched as Mamoru fell to the ground, unconscious, from the tsunami of memories. She lifted her hand and sent him back to the place he had been housing in. "Stay away from the Senshi..." she muttered threateningly before leaving to her world, taking the Lord with her and returning the people.  
  
  
Usagi sat silently in her room. She was alone. Completely alone. Mercury... Venus... Mars... Jupiter... Saturn... Uranus... Neptune... Pluto... Luna... Artemis... All gone. And she had a good feeling that something had happened to Mamoru. Her heart felt... hurt... and yet... relieved. She didn't know why. It was confusing. She wanted her friends back! Usagi bent her head and cried into her knees. She was next. She'd get them back. So help her, she would. 


	9. The Arrival of the Truth

TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS I'VE BEEN THROUGH  
By: Neko Majikku  
Chapter Seven: The Arrival of the Truth  
Rated: PG-13  
  
I am the Princess of the Moon. I am the Heiress to the Moon Kingdom. I am... In so much trouble... I glance to both sides. The Moon had been invaded by Youma. It was impossible to move anywhere.   
  
He clanged his two katanas together, growled, swore, and kept attacking. He... He is so wonderful... He is... He is... Not... Endiymon... He is a second suitor. I have two. I must pick one, I know. But it is difficult...  
  
Another youma launches for me, and he blocks it, swearing profusely as he sees my mother. "C'mon!" Strong hands take my waist and I am carried to the castle. He sets me down and blocks the attacks of evil from both my mother and myself. He is so wonderful... He is so much like his name... So like a wildfire...  
  
A cold wind flows around us. Has she come to save me again? Save us?  
  
"What do you want?" he asks angrily. He never did trust her. So few did.  
  
She stands watching the scene calmly. Without emotion. Can you blame her? All she has ever known is the Underworld. Dead. What a lonely existence. She has never felt love...friends... happiness... She knows hate... cruelty... deception... sin to the highest regard. I don't blame her for her emotionless gaze. She saved my life from the Hounds of Hell... brought back to life a girl who would have died at birth and allowed her and her alone to get near who she really is... She need only understand Life aside from Death and perhaps... Perhaps she will be our friend too.  
  
She stood silent, watching him valiantly fight off youma. He was growing tired, though. I could see it clearly.  
  
"Please...Tell me the outcome of this, Lady." I plead. She gazes at me for a moment. I do not waver. There is much pain beneath that mask but I do not flinch.  
  
"You will die..." she bowed her head, turning to something coming.  
  
"Beryl!" he growled as the figure comes into focus. The evil being only laughs and sends up an explosion beneath us. The last thing I see is the emotionless girl's face... She looks emotionless still...  
  
She lifts her hands and is gone in a flutter of her wings.   
  
  
Usagi sat up in her bed at the sudden memory. The dream memory had been so clear it was if she had actually been there at that moment when it happened... Not as if it was a fleeting through across her subconscious. The night sky was the same troubled darkness as in her dream.  
  
It was time.  
  
"So this is it. If she loses... You wipe them clean." The Man glanced at the Woman beside him as she gazed at the scythe blade before her. She looked calm... But he could tell... She wanted to lose.   
  
Sailor Moon walked into the construction site and the two left to greet her. This was a tense time.  
  
The Woman watched Sailor Moon. She was near tears.  
  
"Where are my friends? Did you- did you..." she broke down now. Her eyes remained on the Woman but were full of tears.  
  
"They are safe." The Woman replied. She pulled off her hood. "If you defeat me, you all go free."  
  
Sailor Moon wiped her eyes and glared at the Woman in determination. She may be the same person from her dreams that she appeared to pity... But no one harms her friends. No one. "Hai," she replied, watching the Woman carefully. She had no wings now, Sailor Moon observed. Only a tattered old cloak.  
  
The Woman lifted her hand, preparing to do this quickly. She had seen Sailor Moon fight, and although she proved strong, she was still weak. "Chainlink..."  
  
"Why are you doing this? What purpose is there?" Sailor Moon asked, lashing out her arms beside her and preparing to move.  
  
"Redemption!" Thousands of rings hit the ground around Sailor Moon but not one hit her. She ducked the attack, or so she thought, and waited for it to end.  
  
"Answer me!" Sailor Moon ordered.  
  
The Woman lifted her hand and the same chain that had captured Saturn now held the Moon Princess. "I am testing you under orders," she replied.  
  
Sailor Moon struggled under the pressure of the chain. She shut her eyes, almost giving in. She was trapped... She lost... she failed... She... Couldn't let her friends go... "What will happen now?"  
  
"You'll lose all memory. Your powers will be taken away."   
Usagi ran, she was late again... She ran to school and got detention and from detention headed home. As she walked, she stopped to gaze up at a group of girls from another school talking. They were headed to the Hino Shrine... And here was Usagi, heading home because Naru had a date with Gurio... The shrine seemed so familiar...  
  
... I'll become normal again... But I'll loose my friends... I can't... Sailor Moon squirmed again. "IIE!" She cried.  
  
A flash of silver light penetrated the chain and it shattered. The links regrouped but this time headed straight for their owner.  
  
The Woman's eyes widened and black wings materialized behind her, tearing into the fabric of her cloak. She took off and jerked around to avoid her own attack. How could this be? she wondered.  
  
Sailor Moon watched as the chains wrapped around their master and her wings. Without them free, the Woman fell to the ground and landed in a pile of feathers and cloth. Sailor Moon ran up to it and waited cautiously. "I defeated you," she said softly.   
The chains disappeared and the Woman knelt before Sailor Moon. "You have. I give in. Your Senshi will be set free and powers returned to them, Moon Princess."  
"Who are you really? What's your name?"  
  
"I have no true name... I was called so many... But Queen Serenity gave me the title..." she paused, glancing up at Sailor Moon, judging to see if she were ready to hear what she had to say. "Sailor Hecate."  
  
"Sailor? You- you're a Senshi?" Sailor Moon knelt now, putting her hands on the Sailor Hecate's shoulders and looking into her visible eye. "Who- who ordered you to do this, then?"  
  
"Queen Serenity."  
  
Sailor Moon looked shocked. Was shocked. "How could she?"  
  
"She wanted to know, Princess, if you were truly strong enough to take on future enemies... the Passing..." said the Man that had accompanied Sailor Hecate. "So she asked Lady Hecate."  
  
Sailor Moon watched the emotionless woman. Her cloak evaporated into a completely black fuku. Nothing was white or any other color. Chains wrapped around her arms down to her wrists and her legs down to her ankles. The left side was shorter than the other. The left glove and boot only half as long as the right. A chain bound her massively long hair as well. Her mask covered half of her tiara.   
  
Hecate stood and with a short wave of her hand the surroundings became black. Ten people stood facing Hecate and Sailor Moon. Eight Senshi and two human cats. "What about..." Sailor Moon began.  
  
"Prince Endiymon has been warned..." Hecate turned to Sailor Moon. "You will discover soon enough." She turned back and to the Senshi she tossed their henshins. When the small pens reached the group, their eyes opened and they stared in wonder. "Should you ever need Sailor Hecate... she will be there." And Sailor Moon was once again standing in the construction site. But this time with her friends.   
  
She had won. Neko: Well people, there'll be more to come. A second story that explains what happens to Endy-chan after Hecate threatens him and what the Future is REALLY like... You see... Chibi Usa left one or two eneenie weenie things out...Til then, stay insane. It's more fun that way. 


End file.
